[Game Review] Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Last month I started playing Ground Zeroes on PS4. While it took me only 4 or 5 hours to beat, I played the game over many half-hour sessions in the span of a few weeks.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is a stealth game that acts as a bridge between Big Boss titles (Snake Eater, Peace Walker) and Modern-day Snake titles (MGS1,2 and 4) of the franchise. The story follows Big Boss's fall into darkness, who after a lifetime of getting betrayed by his country, created an army without a nation. Ground Zeroes is a prologue story for The Phantom Pain and it revolves around Big Boss's mission to rescue two of his army's agents from imprisonment.

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Minor Spoilers below. Shouldn't affect your enjoyment of the game!

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The Captured Agents

Just when Big Boss army was finishing their nuke-armed legged tank: Metal Gear ZEKE. They discovered that one amid their ranks, a girl named Paz was a double agent against them, and she fell in the hands of the enemy. One volunteer soldier of the army, a boy named Chico, thought that Big Boss abandoned Paz after the revelation, and went to rescue her himself.

(Destroy their light. Let them live in darkness. As I do.)

The army was preparing to cover their possession of Metal Gear ZEKE in the upcoming inspection other nations enforced on them. when they intercepted a call of help from Chico. He was captured in his attempt to find Paz. After confirming the location in Cuba, and knowing that the boy and girl won't listen to anyone other than him, Big Boss went himself on a stealth mission to rescue them before they reveal any more of his army's secrets.

Most of the context I wrote above isn't provided as part of the starting cut-scene, but through Cassette Tapes, you can listen to during the mission. Many of these Cassettes are in your possession at the start of the game including Mission Briefing, Paz's dairy, and her Spy Log.

Stay Stealthy, Stay Safe

As the final Metal Gear Solid that Hideo Kojima worked on, the gameplay is similar if more refined than Metal Gear Solid titles released before it. Like usual, you are sent in a one-man infiltration mission to the enemy base with the bare essential equipment. Big Boss should rescue the targets undetected by the enemy.

(Engaging in battle. Cool but impractical.)

The gameplay compromises of piecing out evidence to learn the locations of the targets. Arriving at said locations by distracting the guards, taking them out or learning their movement patterns, and passing through them. Rescuing the targets and contacting Morpho's helicopter to a safe location to bring the target to that area.

There are many ways to go about doing so, and the base where the mission takes place is very cool to roam around. The bad rain-stormy weather manages to make the area look cooler. There are many things to do that aren't related to the mission including riding a Truck or a Tank, but in my experience, doing so when you're in a stealth game is a terrible idea.

(Yay! A Truck!)

The most useful equipment you start the game with is the tranquilizer gun which can silently take out the target, but it has limited ammo, so you must use it carefully.

I don't remember which difficulty I chose (I might have set it on Easy,) but in my playthrough, I felt that the AI of the guards in Ground Zeroes is very stupid, definitely worse than MGS3: Snake Eater which I didn't play myself but watched a full playthrough of. The reason for their apparent stupidity might be the bad weather which makes sound, sight, and smell harder to make out.

Paz and Chico Cassettes

One of Big Boss's pieces of equipment in the game is his iDriod, which can be used to view the map, call the helicopter and listen to the Cassette Tapes in his possession. Time still flows in the game while iDroid is open, which leads to a few of my most memorable moments of this game.

(Listing to tapes on iDroid)

There are many Cassette Tapes in Ground Zeroes, some are available from the start of the game, while others can be collected. I didn't try, but I believe you can't get all of them in one run through. Every time I got detected by the guards in the game, I hide away and listen to a few of these Cassettes. Since using the iDroid doesn't stop time in the game, doing so was an efficient use of my time.

The Cassettes in the game are various, but the ones I remember the most are the ones recorded by Paz. Her Spy Log and her dairy series of tapes. The former reveals her nature as a double spy but doesn't confirm where her true alliances are. The latter reveals how she pretends to be an innocent child, and how she views others. Chico tapes on the other hand, are more related to the mission of the game.

The Fall Into Darkness

Without spoiling much, Chico and Paz are in very different areas, and I found myself forced to approach how to rescue each of them differently. When I rescued Chico, I got a new Cassette tape which should indicate the location of Paz, but even after I found her, I didn't connect how what I heard from it could lead to her location.

(Your reward is a Tape!)

After saving both of them, a long ending cut-scene starts and it's one of the best movie clips I ever saw in a game. So much was packed in these five minutes!!

The ending of Ground Zeroes explains some of the reasons that led Big Boss to become who he is in the years to come. It also serves as an exciting introduction to the second part of Metal Gear Solid V which is titled The Phantom Pain. A trailer for that game is shown after the ending of this game.

The Phantom of Replayability

While the main campaign of Ground Zeroes is very short, there are many things to do in the game: collectibles, unlockables, and more than one way to finish the mission. (The targets can be rescued in any order.) There are also side missions along with harder difficulties that unlock after beating the game once.

I finished Ground Zeroes without finding a lot of collectibles and I got a completion rate of only %6 of the game. (And "E" rating for those who're interested. I took so much time to find the targets.) I'm writing this while being excited about The Phantom Pain and I hope I get to review that game soon.

What do you think?

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All images are taken by me using PS4's share button.

If you liked reading this you might like my first impression article. Also the screenshots I posted in my #ScreenshotSaturday articles on May 30, Jun 6 and 13.

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